The present invention relates to a computerized simulating method which is helpful to analyze kneaded states of a fluid.
In order to prepare rubber or resin to be subjected to a cross-linking treatment, the compounding ingredients, namely, polymer material, various additive agents and the like are usually mixed and kneaded by the use of a banbury mixer.
In such kneading process, what is important is that the compounding ingredients are mixed uniformly in a short time. For that purpose, various developments regarding the configurations of the kneading space (chamber) and the rotors therein have been made by the trial-and-error method which requires high development costs.
In recent years, therefore, the use of various computer numerical simulations has been proposed.
For example, in the following non-patent document 1, there has been proposed a numerical simulation for calculating the flow of a plastic material such as unvulcanized rubber and resin before cross-linked, during kneaded by a banbury mixer.
[non-patent document 1] “Numerical and Experimental Study of Dispersive Mixing of Agglomerates”, V. Collin (1)*, E. Peuvrel-Disdier (1) et al.
In the following non-patent document 2, it has been proposed to quantitatively get a grasp of kneaded states of a plastic material through a numerical simulation, wherein the current kneaded state is compared with an ideal uniform kneaded state and quantified.
[non-patent document 2] “Analysis of Dispersive and Distributive Mixing In Terms of Minor Component Size and Spatial Distributions In Continuous Polymer Processing Equipment”, Winston Wang and Ica Manasloczower
In the method of the non-patent document 2, the ideal uniform kneaded state is defined such that the chamber or kneading space is completely filled with the plastic material, namely, the filling rate is 100%.
In the actual kneading process, however, the filling rate is less than 100%. Therefore, the ideal kneaded state defined in the non-patent document 2 does not represent a correct ideal kneaded state.
For example, if the filling rate is decreased, then the percentage of the plastic material resting near the interior surface of the kneading space becomes high in comparison with that at the filling rate of 100%. Namely, if the filling rate is decreased, the ideal kneaded state should be altered according thereto such that the plastic material shifts toward the interior surface.
Therefore, based on the assumption of the non-patent document 2 that the ideal kneaded state is independent of the filling rate, there is a possibility that the dispersion state is evaluated as becoming worse with the decrease in the filling rate.